Shopify Beginner's Guide: Step-by-Step Store Setup with Money-Saving Tips

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Fair warning: Lots of rambling and motivational talk upfront! If you want the干货 (dry goods/practical stuff), skip ahead! The practical content is also lengthy, perfect for beginners! Others can speed-read!

Same Recipe, Same Taste

1. Don't Let Your Guard Down, US Market Players

Things could change at any moment, or more curveballs could come our way. The TikTok + tariff incidents have been warning enough—always have backup plans.

US de minimis exemption canceled, USPS stopped accepting China packages
Right after Chinese New Year, global sellers' world collapsed?

2. Small Package Duty-Free Policy Returns

But the large package sea freight tariff increase policy is still in effect. This created a complete reversal—what was extremely favorable for local warehouse, heavy-asset players (especially Amazon FBA) has now flipped to favor small packages over large ones.

Who would have thought—Pinduoduo (Temu) ends up being the biggest winner. (But small package players, don't get cocky. Same advice: always have backup plans.) Bezos is really hurting.

3. Policies Change, But You Do Nothing

What's the point of just watching? Now, with all the Trump drama, global ecommerce,出海 (going global), and foreign trade are trending again. Probably more people jumping on the bandwagon.

So here comes the classic newbie question:

"Sister, it looks so competitive now, can newbies still make it?"

"No, get lost."

4. To Newbies with Slight Execution Ability

Focus on the business. No matter how the external environment changes, global consumer demand always exists. Strong people don't complain about the environment—opportunities are always there.

More Motivational Soup

Listen to me—newbies shouldn't waste more time reading guides, asking experts, joining garbage groups, asking around, hesitating, and accomplishing nothing for half a year.

What you need to do is force yourself to actually do something, to execute! Buy a domain, design a logo, register a store—anything, anything at all, just get yourself started.

Don't worry about right or wrong—who gets it right from the start? All my readers have witnessed that I belong to the "poor student" group: 3+ months without a single order, sometimes losing money even after a year.

Even in my other venture—personal IP and knowledge monetization—at the beginning, each post took at least 3 hours to write and edit. Forget monetization, I was getting only a few dozen views, maybe one or two hundred.

Now I charge group members $25, $699, $1,299, $2,000, $3,000+ and talk and talk. But what about when I persisted in writing 200+ original free shares for nearly two years? When I kept investing in my own store, often at a loss, just to gain business experience? When I ran 11 free groups without charging a penny, constantly typing hundreds of words to answer questions?

So family, don't listen to the noise around you. Just be yourself. Persist in doing the right things, valuable things—time will give you the answer. Just f***ing do it!

So, now, get out of bed, turn off your phone, open your computer.

Forget about product selection, forget about traffic—just open a store with me!

Really, if you keep complaining, don't make me come through the internet and slap you.

Launch Shopify!

Recently, Shopify restarted their promotion: first 3 months for $1, giving newbies more room to practice and prepare.

Follow my "Nothing Else Matters" idiot-proof store opening guide—three steps to launch at zero cost!

Step 1: Go to Shopify Official Website

Visit www.shopify.com

Step 2: Understand Costs and Pricing

Let's quickly look at Shopify's pricing plans. Understand your future budget and cost investment.

For newbies, just consider the Basic plan (the cheapest one).

Money-saving tip: Many group members wonder why some pay $20/month annually while others pay $29/month? Or £19/month?

The answer is: your login country/region differs. (Because some users use VPNs, which auto-direct to your VPN region.)

China region: $29/month annually
US region: $20/month annually
UK region: £19/month annually

How to change, how to fix?

Scroll to the bottom, footer, country/region, select your preferred one (newbies just choose USA)
Some may still not see correct prices even after selecting USA. In that case, turn off your VPN, open an incognito window, and enter again—problem solved.

Overall, with promotions, your first year can be as low as $15/month.

About $100/month to unlock a创业/副业 possibility—isn't that the world's most cost-effective opportunity cost?

Step 3: Officially Register Account

Nothing else matters, just do it!

Affiliate disclosure: Feel free to use my referral link: shopify.pxf.io/JKLN2r

First 3 days completely free!
First 3 months only $1/month!
I may earn commission when you officially renew

Earning honestly through value and authenticity. Thanks again for your support.

Please remember to turn off VPN or use global mode

After entering the page, you'll be asked to input your email—your future Shopify login. Any email works, but for玄学 (superstitious) reasons, try non-QQ emails. More professional newbies can use their brand domain email.
Follow the prompts to complete registration
Set up basic store information